The staff at the Cambridge Polymer Labs were working on power armor technology for the military when the bombs dropped. As the world descended into chaos, the director, Jon Elwood-Woolum, was informed that the military could spare the resources to escort only essential personnel to safety. He kept the staff in the facility, passing the gunfire and explosions outside as a military drill in order to keep them calm to complete the project.[2] The lack of information and confinement in the lab prevented the staff from working. Eventually, Jon died from radiation exposure, and the staff met a similar fate, locked up in the lab to turn into feral ghouls.

During the war, a number of C.I.T. personnel survived by taking refuge in the underground level of the campus. In 2110, survivors and their descendants founded the Institute, an organization dedicated to furthering pre-War science. Following the invention of a teleportation device known as the Molecular Relay in the 2180s, the Institute was able to expand deeper underground and enhance production of advanced robots known as synths.